Deep down, the lumpy orange shart-stain in the White House knows he’s a worthless fraud. That’s why he shrieks like a scalded skunk at real or perceived slights. The people around Trump — slugs hauled blinking into the sunlight from the soil beneath the scraped-away bottom of the Republican barrel — are even more acutely aware of Trump’s deficiencies, but it’s their job to puff him up.
Everyone in a malignant narcissist’s orbit is conscripted into the battle to keep the narcissist’s crippling insecurities at bay. In the case of Trump, even we citizens are drafted to serve as props and scolded when we don’t go along with the ruse. Recall Kellyanne Conway bellowing in frustration, “Hashtag — he’s your president too!” on national TV — the recurrent theme of virtually all of her mainstream media appearances.
But perhaps no one’s job description is as straightforwardly about Trump-fluffery as that of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is trotted out each weekday afternoon to publicly polish the turd that is the Trump administration. It’s a tough job, and Huckabee Sanders does it poorly.
Her guiding principle on the job seems to be to find examples of Trump’s predecessors doing a thing and then paint a portrait of Trump doing something similar to that thing, and then present the following conclusion with a triumphant flourish: “See? This is TOO a normal presidency!”
But Huckabee Sanders is so very bad at it. For example, remember this iconic photo of Obama and his team monitoring the bin Laden raid?
In a tweet last night, Huckabee Sanders was trying to spin the Shitgibbon’s recent courtesy bombing in Syria as a foreign policy masterstroke, taking a shot at President Obama while simultaneously attempting to evoke the drama and import of the photo above:
Last night the President put our adversaries on notice: when he draws a red line he enforces it. (Inside the Situation Room as President is briefed on Syria – Official WH photos by Shealah Craighead) pic.twitter.com/GzOSejdqQh
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) April 15, 2018
As all of non-MAGAt Twitter immediately pointed out, the implied timeline is bogus since Pence is in Peru, but even if he weren’t, there’s nothing remotely reassuring about seeing these clowns in the Situation Room. The inept press shop probably had to crop John Kelly out because he was face-palming again.
Anyhoo, no newsflash or moral of the story here: the lying liars are lying again, and they’re doing it badly. This will be the status quo until the whole rotten crew is ejected from power, and please FSM, let that day come soon.
On to more pleasant topics: Today, I am making another birthday cake with a Shrek theme — this time, “Donkey” is the featured character. I will share the results by and by.
We’re also supposed to cook out later because the Shrek fan’s favorite entree is grilled steak, but a humongous storm is making its way across the Gulf, so I have a feeling we’ll have to move the festivities indoors.
Please feel free to discuss whatever — open thread!
germy
They’re doing a cover story right now on Universal Basic Income on CBS This Morning.
First time I’ve seen this topic mainstreamed.
germy
link
germy
PsiFighter37
Huckabee Sanders is a stupid, venal woman. She is the epitome of this administration – she absolutely hates the function that goes along with her job and is busy twisting it to fit what the right-wing description of it should be. Basically the press secretary equivalent of Pruitt at EPA.
I also really hate her stupid smirking and other facial expressions, because it shows how much she openly holds the press in contempt. She’s the one who is a fucking liar and would go into seclusion forever if she had any sense of shame.
MomSense
I quote Donkey all the time, especially now.
“I’m a donkey on the edge!”
Geoduck
I am mildly curious when the pic actually was taken, because that is Bolton there, isn’t it? So after he slithered on board, but before Pence went to Peru..
cope
Everyone else at the table has a binder in front of them, the president* has a tablet.
Also, too, in the Obama pic, everybody is concentrating on the same thing. In the SHS image, everybody’s attention is directed in a different direction.
Also, also too what’s with the retro B&W image?
germy
The B&W adds gravitas.
MomSense
@germy:
I think you mean graviTASS.
SFAW
Is that Jethrene nearest the camera? Is it SOP for the press secretary to be in the situation room when decisions are made re: bombing another country? I would have thought not, but I’m not an expert in these things.
terraformer
Ah, I do love the smell of Betty Cracker’s fresh prose in the morning.
cope
@germy: A kind of “Seven Days in May” vibe, eh?
germy
Latest addition to our library: The Glove Box Guide by Patrice Banks.
My wife bought the book and is enjoying it immensely.
NotMax
@cope
Can’t live stream FOX ‘news’ on a binder.
JPL
@Geoduck: It was taken earlier in the week, because it’s important to choreograph these special moments.
germy
@MomSense: The woman to Pence’s right… is that Michelle Bachmann?
I wonder when this photo was taken?
SFAW
@MomSense:
Eto pravda. (Or “это правда” for those who can handle Cyrillic.)
Schlemazel
But Betty, It simulates the reality the MAGAttes know is truthy there for it is not really lying
“Marge it takes two to lie, one to lie and the other to listen to the lie” – Homer Simpson
Betty Cracker
@germy: Maybe it’s Nikki Haley? Dear God, I hope it’s not Bachmann!
Schlemazel
@SFAW:
Wait! Did you just ask if this was normal? Objection! Asked & answered.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
The Sanders photo reminds me of the gigantic conference tables in the Presidential Palace of the President of South Vietnam. Grandiose, designed to portray power.
MomSense
@germy: @Betty Cracker:
Looks like Nikki Haley to me.
germy
@MomSense: I never thought I’d be relieved to see Nikki Haley
Russ
The whole thing, whatever, whoever these people have touched is just one large dumpster of smoldering lies, deceptions and theft. I wouldn’t take a White House Tour with them there for fear of contamination. Everything, every stinking thing they touch goes to sh#t.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: Yes, Haley.
debbie
Particularly that there are no papers in front of Trump. He relies solely on others’ opinions and objectives. Why doesn’t he do his own analysis and then consider others’ information?
MomSense
@NotMax:
He also looks super confused.
SFAW
@Schlemazel:
Well, technically, I didn’t, because I realize nothing about this maladministration is normal. But I’d be hard-pressed to argue what the difference is.
So, I guess a better question would have been “In previous Administrations, how often has the press secretary attended meetings of that (purported) nature?
Meanwhile: I have a comment in moderation because …? Use of Cyrillic characters and so I’m now assumed to be commenting from St. Pete?
Chyron HR
If you have to keep “enforcing” your red line, in what way are you actually enforcing it?
germy
Open thread?
I finally found the photos I’d taken with my new “smart” phone. They’d disappeared.
They were transferred to a folder called “downloads”. The phone did this, not me. And it waited a few weeks before disappearing my photos.
One thing I noticed with this phone. If I visit youtube, the phone volume automatically increases until it hits full volume. I don’t know why.
The phone is connected to our home wifi. But if I select the “youtube” app, it connects me to the phone network. ($) If I go through chrome to get to youtube, it stays on our home wifi.
And now it shows me commercials when I check my voicemail.
I don’t trust the f**king thing.
SFAW
@debbie:
Good one!
debbie
@cope:
I bet there’s a photo of a Big Mac on that tablet. No way a man of his age could read copy on it at that angle. I know I can’t.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
No, her hair is too light. I think it’s that Kristin chick, the NSA.
Amir Khalid
@terraformer:
It smells like … victory.
@cope:
That right there is the difference between the two administrations, in a nutshell.
Jim Parish
@cope: Except that, in Seven Days in May, the President was the good guy.
Kay
IMO, this is key to conservatism, though. It isn’t limited to Trump. A lot of the anger they express comes from feeling disrespected. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in the camp who say it’s everyone’s job to make sure conservatives feel respected- it would never be enough anyway- but I do think it’s true that this is an essential part of the ideology. I used to go along with this back in the day- it’s easier and my take was there’s no harm in recognizing the need and stroking them a little- but I eventually lost patience with it because it’s so one-sided. It isn’t reciprocal.
I’m relieved Trump exaggerated the Syria strike. I’m acutely aware of how dangerous the Trump Administration are. I was mad at myself for joking so much and enjoying the Trump/Cohen legal troubles the week prior because obviously they have a lot of power and can use it and it’s easy for me to joke about them- they’re not bombing my city. As his legal troubles get worse and worse he and his administration will become more and more dangerous- probably not TO ME, individually and personally- but to others. That’s not funny.
MomSense
@germy:
I just heard today that Nicole Wallace admitted she didn’t vote for McCain in 2008 because of Palin. She worked on that campaign and didn’t vote for her candidates. People seem impressed with this admission but I find it very upsetting. I really think you can draw a straight line from the ugly of Palin’s red meat rallies to Trump. If Nicole knew her to be that unfit why didn’t she resign and publicly state her concerns?
Schlemazel
@SFAW:
I was failing yet again at humor
Baud
People did this in reverse in trying to make Obama seem W-like. Obama’s Katrina, anyone?
debbie
@Kay:
And yet, they have absolutely no problem with their own disrespect of the previous administration! When speaking to conservatives, this would be the moment I leave the room in a sputtering rage.
Baud
@Kay: You have to laugh for your own sanity and to take the authoritarians down a peg. But you are correct that we should never regard Trump as entertainment.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy:
Never trust a thing that is smarter than you. Also, it’s out to get you.
cope
@Jim Parish: HEE HEE, good point. That occurred to me as well. I should have gone with “Dr. Strangelove”.
Just One More Canuck
@cope: more like Dr. Strangelove
Baud
@germy: What the hell phone did you get? The iPossessed?
Cheryl Rofer
Avenatti is a master troll. Looks like Executive Time tomorrow and Tuesday will look like it does today.
Kay
I’ve been wondering for a while if the political calculus that goes “people will rally behind the President on war/bombing/aggressive actions” is outdated – conventional wisdom that may no longer be true. It doesn’t seem to have the same near-hypnotic power it had in the Bush years.I live and work in a very conservative area- my work life is composed almost exclusively of politically aware and often politically active Republicans. They don’t strut around like they used to when the bombing starts.
I wonder if THAT’S the price you pay for lying people into a war- the bill for the lie comes due much later, with a profound and complete loss of credibility. We always want some immediate effect but it often doesn’t work like that.
Cutting taxes was always assumed to be a slam dunk for conservatives politically also but it’s starting to look like that’s no longer true either. There was never a guarantee that this stuff would work with the public forever. Recall that in 2004 President Bush specifically unspooled a state-level political strategy that centered on same sex marriage. That would be laughable now.
SFAW
@Cheryl Rofer:
Oh, yeah? What about Juanita Broadrick? Answer me THAT, libtard!
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: The one next to Pence, not the woman in the middle.
Schlemazel
JAY-Zeus! Those bastards at CBS just ran a love letter on MyPillow. The only mention of the companies legal & ethical problems was to allow him to claim the BBB rating was political payback for his support of Dump.
RSA
@cope:
That sounds like a policy: “No laptops at the table with the President.”
Or maybe “When is someone going to get the goddamn WiFi working again? It’s been months!”
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I think your point about conservatives in general feeling disrespected is true. It’s just more magnified with Trump because he’s such an obvious clown. For years we’ve been asked to regard obvious plutocrat lackey Paul Ryan as a “policy wonk,” which is absurd on its face. But it seems even more preposterous to be asked to pretend the preening, incoherent, lying fool in the White House is up to the job.
I’m definitely on Team No Respect; I think it works better. After the Parkland shooting, David Brooks wrote a ridiculous column alleging that the reason virtually all post-Newtown attempts at gun control failed was because liberals hurt gun-humpers’ feelings and failed to show sufficient respect. The Parkland kids did the opposite — they shamed these assholes 10 times harder — and they actually got some results. Not nearly enough, but some progress was made.
Amir Khalid
@Cheryl Rofer:
Muhammad Ali, may Allah bless his soul, used to troll the heck out of his opponents before the fight. And Avenatti is doing exactly the same thing.
MattF
@debbie: About the best way to predict Trump’s actual policy in any instance is to ask ‘Did Obama do it?’ Trump sees himself as the anti-Obama, he will oppose or attempt to undo anything Obama did, whether undoing it makes any sense or not.
germy
@Schlemazel: Didn’t mention him advertising on Ingraham’s show, at least I didn’t hear it.
He ripped off consumers. Also made claims that his pillow would cure sleep apnea (among other ailments), which I’m sure would give Mr. Cole a laugh.
satby
@Cheryl Rofer: He’s good. I’d want him (or someone like him) as my lawyer if I ever needed one.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Dead on on both.
WaterGirl
@germy: With a “recommendation” like that, please do us all a service and tell us what brand of phone it is.
germy
@MomSense:
Imagine visiting a restaurant, asking the waitress “What are the specials today?” and hearing “I don’t know; I refuse to eat this crap!”
germy
@WaterGirl: It’s the one that flirtatiously says “Hello moto!” when you turn it on.
Amir Khalid
@germy:
There’s a Stephen King story in there somewhere …
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
@Cheryl Rofer:
I can understand his willingness to defend his client. But he seems to be taking things way overboard with the trolling. What happens if he loses on a technicality?
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Absolutely agree. These people have no moral code, so things they do seem crazy and wrong to the rest of us who do.
The Moar You Know
.
@PsiFighter37: She should. Really. She lies to them openly. They keep showing up. She makes fun of them. They keep showing up. She tells them they are worthless and weak. They keep showing up. She starts making up even more outrageous bullshit. They notnonly keep showing up but pretend that they are engaging in legitimate question and answer time. Her boss lies to them ridiculously. They keep showing up. Her boss asks audience members at his stupid wannabe Nuremberg rallies to MURDER them and they keep showing up, and half of them throw in a daily “both sides do it” seemingly to insure that we as a democracy can never have nice things.
If anyone ever deserved absolute contempt, it is the American press. She literally is just treating them in the manner they ask for.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker:
Those kids aren’t done yet, not by a damn sight.
germy
@Cheryl Rofer:
But will Cohen attend?
I see Ben Stiller portrayed Cohen on SNL last night. Taking a lie detector test from Mueller (Robert De Niro)
WaterGirl
@Cheryl Rofer: I keep wondering if the sketch that was done of the man who intimidated Stormy Daniels might look just like Cohen.
edited
MomSense
@RSA:
Hey at least they managed to find the light switches. Baby steps.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Just saw that Tapper-Romney clip again, where she calls the Comey book “salacious”, before admitting she hasn’t read it. A million quatloos to the journo who asks her to define that word next time she uses it.
Elizabelle
Looking at those photos: there is one African American in both of them. One. And I guess Nikki Haley is the only Indian American. Otherwise, white folk, all the way through.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: In my experience, the best lawyers are the quiet, efficient ones. They ask simple questions, make straightforward arguments based on established law. The last thing I would want is a showboat. He may be winning the news cycle, but a courtroom is a different venue, and that is where it counts.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: that was great– leaned a little too heavy on those Fokker movies, but they went there on Ivanka. I thought for sure he’d be tweeting about that this morning
Kay
@debbie:
I’m confident in my political positions, so it’s not that much of a big deal to listen to “I love Margaret Thatcher” for the 100th time, but I got tired of it because I was a good sport about making fun of liberals (which conservatives do a lot) and they don’t reciprocate. They get prickly and mad and screamy. There’s nothing in it for me.
I read these national pieces where conservatives whine about being a political minority in cities or wherever, but lots of Democrats are political minorities in rural areas and they don’t feel put-upon and mistreated. I’m on a school committee so I deal with a very conservative elected school board and I had to sit there while they went on and on about Michelle Obama and school lunches – it was bullshit and a waste of my time but I don’t go around screeching about being persecuted. I have listened to HOURS of their opinions, WEEKS, maybe MONTHS, added up. I don’t feel this is a violation of the First Amendment that I’m in a political minority.
rikyrah
Can’t wait to see the cake??
OzarkHillbilly
James Joyner at OTB: Trump Staffers Too Toxic to Hire
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.
Elizabelle
@OzarkHillbilly: Agreed. Although Avenatti is up against a reality TV show star, on behalf of an adult entertainment star. It’s just sad! this case involved the POTUS. (An illegitimate POTUS.)
Frankensteinbeck
What I notice is that the picture quality in the top photo is imperfect. There is slight smudging and the lighting is merely decent. It is an actual photo of a spontaneous situation. The second photo is crisp. It’s a staged photo.
Maybe distinction without a difference, and only because it’s an interesting topic of speculation: I don’t think he’s deep down anything. He is hollow. Only external validation defines him.
@germy:
I strongly support this position. It will not result in large numbers of unproductive people. Observing the rich has shown me that even when they’re comfortable and don’t need to work, humans are naturally motivated to try and get more. That has good as well as bad implications.
@Kay:
It is. I am absolutely confident of it, because I watched during the election and so far in Trump’s presidency. The media is still completely in thrall to that standard. They love war, they are wet-their-pants scared by acts of terrorism, and they crave a big daddy Republican to go beat up the bad guys.
Practically no one else is. Our society has become too polarized. The vast majority either support Republicans already and aren’t budging, or have long since lost faith in Republican Big Daddies.
Baud
@germy: I’ve had Motorola in the past. Never experienced anything like what you are experiencing. Strange.
rikyrah
@Kay:
You are a good egg, Kay.
Because, I would not be able to contain myself about Dolt45 and his merry band of thieves. Not even opinion presentation..just facts. Like bring a list of Pruitt’s being Pruitt and ask them to explain it.
Same with DeVos
Same with why the people around Dolt45 can’t get Permanent Security Clearances…and ask them how they believe it’s affecting our national security?
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
There’s always the local 7-11
rikyrah
@germy:
And showing up in a skit with The KKKEEBLER Elf and Race Bannon
Tenar Arha
@MomSense: OMG THIS. This is why I’ve gone full driftglass on these formerly insider-GOP operatives & politicians commenting on anything. It’s great that she admitted it. Bravo! Now why can’t she say “I’m sorry. I bear responsibility for the direction my party has gone. Liberals were right all along; we were, indeed, playing with matches, and now everyone is in danger.”
In my dreams: then she would either get off my teevee or at least set a ratio of no more RWNJs, & maybe the occasional never Trumper while booking 3 or 4 liberal/left commentators per show. Yeah, I know not gonna happen, that’s why I said in my dreams. ;) Instead I need a freaking flow-chart to figure out who these people’s antecedent affiliations are before I decide if they’re even remotely trustworthy.
I’m a political junkie, who spends waaay too much time reading on my phone every day, & I can’t keep track! And that’s how the non-junkies get fooled that they’re watching real discussions as opposed to a series of news improv plays. “It’s all pablum!” I say, as Joy Reid speaks on the tv the background.
ETA typo
Betty Cracker
@OzarkHillbilly: True! I’m especially impressed that they’ve made voter registration a centerpiece of their efforts. But the fact that they shamed NRA A+ Gov. Skeletor and the wingnut majority statehouse to enact even a flawed bill that restricts gun rights is a marvel all by itself.
OzarkHillbilly
@The Moar You Know:
It’s their job to show up.
rikyrah
@PsiFighter37:
I would love to see her unqualified azz arrested too.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
They’re bad. He hires bad people. Even the “good” people he hires are bad because they’re deluding themselves that they are somehow “standing in the breach” defending the Republic. If it’s true that Kelly told Comey that Trump was a degenerate AND Kelly stays there because he egotistically and delusionally believes that he is somehow sacrificing, then Kelly is just as much an arrogant asshole as Trump. The fucking EGO on these people! My God, it’s like a mental illness.
Ivanka Trump really believes that she is serving the United States. This is what she wakes up and thinks. Not only that,she believes that 350 million people have to HELP her keep this fantasy intact! That it’s OUR JOB, and we’re denying her something she’s due if we won’t go along with her self-aggrandizing bullshit.
rikyrah
@germy:
Did the photos go to the cloud?
rikyrah
@germy:
Did you hook your phone up to your computer? When I do this,all photos not previously downloaded are downloaded
FlipYrWhig
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m forgetting the particulars but there was someone else in the past few months who was doing the same thing. The word “salacious” seems to have migrated from the Steele research to become a euphemism for… something. They might think it means “false” or “mean.”
bemused
@Betty Cracker:
I think Kay is right on that no amount of “respect” would be enough for them.
I’ve been thinking for a long time that rightwingers who go on and on about feeling disrespected have serious low self-esteem issues. People who feel pretty secure about themselves as moral and ethical human beings and how they live their lives don’t run around constantly, loudly demanding respect.
The Moar You Know
@germy: You got the “sponsored/with ads” version from Amazon, or a similar dealer. It’s going to do that. All the time. It was designed to work that way, at least until you smash it, and you will, because it will end up driving you crazy. And costing you a lot of money in data charges.
My general advice is to avoid Android. It is a massive security risk.
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle: Yes, I’m not saying he’s a bad lawyer, he could be a very good lawyer, but the proof is in the pudding and they haven’t even begun to mix the ingredients for that. Just saying what my experience is, and I am very hopeful that he has a different persona in court, because judges generally are very short of patience for certain behaviors.
Kay
@rikyrah:
I’m not as sure as I once was that people are “persuadable”. More and more I’m convinced that everyone I thought I had “persuaded” was instead already mostly there, and that’s how I ended up talking to them. It was them. It wasn’t me. I think this because I say almost nothing in these exchanges. When they “turn” on a GOP President they’re using me almost as a sounding board to express their arguments for why they’re jumping ship.
We have a juvenile judge who does this with me. It makes me laugh, because I say nothing- he provides both sides of the argument. So he’ll get frustrated with parents who won’t take care of their kids and he’ll say “get me an orphanage!” – I say nothing- he says “you think orphanages are bad, but what are the other options?” – this can go on for 20 minutes. It’s like that with disgruntled Republicans. They’re already mostly there.
rikyrah
@Kay:
They have truly been shocked and amazed that the general reaction to Dolt45 has been for our side to put up our middle finger. Not just towards Dolt45, but also towards THEM, for voting for them.
When they try that ‘ but, you should respect the office’ bullshyt, we continue to bring forth the following:
1. Eight years of receipts where they disrespected 44
2. Actual REASONS , complete with facts about why Dolt45 will NOT receive respect.
NeenerNeener
Has anybody checked out the reboot of Lost In Space on Netflix yet? The RWNJ howls of outrage in the IMDB and Netflix reviews are classic. Those that hate it fall in to 3 main types: the folks bitching that the science is all wrong, those bitching that their childhood memories are ruined now because it’s a racially diverse cast and some women are scientists and pilots in this version, and those bitching about the science being wrong AND it’s too PC. It reminds me of the fussing about Idris Elba as Heimdall in the Thor movies and Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck in the BSG reboot.
Anyway, I found it interesting enough that I watched all 10 episodes instead of cleaning my house and if it gets future seasons I’ll watch those too. Any excuse not to clean.
Betty Cracker
Trump is having a shit-fit on Twitter this morning. Babbling about “Wild Bill” [Clinton] and Loretta Lynch, calling Comey a “slimeball” again, huffing and puffing about the Syria raid. I think this is my favorite so far:
Are our resident attorneys concerned and deflated?
rikyrah
@Cheryl Rofer:
He is really a good advocate for her.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: I am so impressed by them. I have long said my sons are better people than I am. I can say the same of these kids. Makes me proud.
MomSense
@Tenar Arha:
It makes me so angry every time I see them on my tv complaining about trumpism it what’s become of their party. Really? Where the hell were they during those 2012 Republican primary debates? Have they forgotten the horrors of the audience behavior at those debates? Have they forgotten those Palin rallies? How far back do we have to go? The receipts are getting too heavy to keep carrying.
Baud
@Betty Cracker: The prospect of all of Trump’s lawyers getting raided actually inflates me.
WaterGirl
@germy: I am not familiar with that. I googled -so it’s an android – is it a Motorola Moto Z ?
What operating system does it run?
GregB
One thing I hate most about the Tangerine Touch-hole is that if something is happening to him, it is the worst thing in the world. This douche is getting people roused out of their bus seats, terrifying sick children on their way to hospitals and hanging the sword of Damocles over the head of the LGBT citizens. But he’s under siege and it is sooooooooo hard.
Patricia Kayden
So if someone knocks at your door and you don’t know who it is because you’re not expecting visitors, you can (a) look through the peek hole, (b) not open the door at all, or (c) call the police if the knocking persists and you become anxious. Shooting at a kid who is asking for directions is a bit much.
WaterGirl
@germy: I read somewhere that the judge ordered Cohen to attend on Monday so there will be no more delays.
Elizabelle
OT. For some reason, I loved this cartoon from The New Yorker. 58 weasels in a trenchcoat.
Kay
I’m impressed with Stormy Daniels just for sheer bravery. She’s not pretending she’s defending the Republic. She’s one person with one lawyer- a good lawyer, admittedly, but he has no authority or power other than the civil system and public relations. She’s pissed at these people- WILDLY powerful people- and she just decided to fight. And she’s fucking WINNING.
I smile every time I see her lawyer just because it’s so crazy they even tried. Two people, one of whom is a porn actress so easily smeared and probably immediately dismissed as a serious threat and they’re beating the Trumps.
Senators couldn’t do it- but the porn actress is making it look easy. God bless America. That’s a real David and Goliath story, right there.
Mike in NC
We have sitting on our bar a copy of that image where somebody photoshopped a white cat sitting next to that Air Force general. Cracks visitors up every time.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly:
Just reading those words put a big smile on my face. Off to read the article.
OzarkHillbilly
@Patricia Kayden: He was black, so obviously trying to break in. Thank dog the idiot is as stupid with a gun as his wife is at answering the door. How do you miss with a shotgun?
rikyrah
The Guardian has an article:
Behind the right-wing plan to discredit teacher strikes
OF COURSE, the loathesome DeVos is neck deep in it
https://twitter.com/Will_Bunch/status/984478223600902149?s=19
Emma
I’ve been thinking about the Bin Laden raid picture and I finally realized why I think it is one of the best presidential pictures of all time. Basically, Obama has ceded center stage to his people. He doesn’t demand a spotlight. A lot of the people sitting around the table are those who thought through the implications/planned/are coordinating/will deal directly with the fallout of this action. It’s a group of professionals together and he sits among them.
God Jesus and the Holy Ghost I miss that man.
Chyron HR
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t have any (not any!) lawyers, and I’m also not a criminal. Hmm.
Peale
@NeenerNeener: seems that someone we should remind them that their childhoods were already ruined because of segregation and sexism. They’ve had 50 years to get over that trauma.
Kay
The rap on Trump from the Trump Whisperers at the NYTimes (gross, BTW, that the NYTimes proudly has Trump Whisperers) is that he longs for elite approval. I think this is true. That’s why we get so much attitude from his low quality hires- they know they’re sleazy but they long for approval – that’s why they’re all so thrilled to borrow the authority of the federal government, why they pose by the photos of the planes with “United States” on the side. They’re greedy but that they couldn’t buy. They could buy entrance into Harvard but they need that fucking plane to shore up their egos.
Betsy DeVos was a sleazy political operative in Michigan- her MO was threatening weak-willed conservative lawmakers with her big bags of money. But that wasn’t enough. She needs The US Department of Education- that seal. She needs that legitimacy.
Frankensteinbeck
@Kay:
I believe Kelly does, indeed, believe he’s trying to minimize the damage of a Trump presidency… for the good of white supremacy.
@FlipYrWhig:
I think it means ‘I know you are, but what am I.’
@bemused:
Assholes demand to be praised for being assholes.
@Betty Cracker:
Jesus Christ and his electric pickle. I’ve never seen Trump throw this big a fit, and this specific a fit, about anything. Usually he detours to a soft target. Yes, I’m starting to believe Cohen has the very specific goods on Trump. Something was taken that utterly terrifies Trump. Mind you, in Trump’s deranged mind, that could be ‘proof he has a tiny penis’ rather than criminal evidence. But yeah, this isn’t generalized worry things might come out. This is certainty that he is now in deep shit.
rikyrah
@NeenerNeener:
I never liked Lost In Space as a kid. But, I will tell Peanut about it
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
As a former New Yorker, my first thought was “they can’t even get a job at Off-Track Betting? Sheeee-it.”
Peale
@Betty Cracker: it’s funny when we think about the revolving door of lawyers who’ve sidled up to him in the past year alone who then leave within a month. He really does think that lawyers are like these priests who he can ask to do illegal things for him and it becomes legal.
Frankensteinbeck
Le sigh. I keep forgetting that referring to Trump’s insecurities about his masculine proportions will put me in moderation.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
That is very funny. Have you seen the Time Magazine’s next cover yet?
jeffreyw
Big hunka beef in the slo-cooker, going to be Italian beef ere long. Dough rising in the machine for rolls to eat it on.
WaterGirl
@Kay: Yep. The Parkland kids are another David and Goliath story. It’s heartening.
Out of all this darkness, some real leaders are emerging.
Dave
@Kay: It is many ways a beautifully democratic story. The sort that should become a future folktale.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Is Meghan McCain a certified Pundit now?
WaterGirl
@Emma: Your comment is spot on, and your last line made me cry. I miss him, too.
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: What cut of meat is that?
rikyrah
Beyonce did a two hour set at Coachella complete with Destiny’s Child and Jay-Z
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/festivals/8334610/beyonce-coachella-2018-destinys-child-jay-z
SFAW
@jeffreyw:
I guess as long as it’s not a hunka-hunka burnin’ beef, that’s OK.
rikyrah
@jeffreyw:
Uh uh uh
Yummmmmm
Are you roasting peppers and onions?
Got some Giardinera?
My mouth is so ready for a good beef sandwich.
I bet it will be delicious ?
Frankensteinbeck
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Wasn’t she a pundit before she got into politics on her own?
TS
@Kay:
She has never hidden who she is and what she does. She cannot be exposed and attacked for she freely admits this is who she is. The president* also knows who she is and what she does which is why he does not want anyone speaking about her or to her. Whichever way the court case goes he has lost.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: OMG that is a funny tweet – he probably thinks he’s being strategic and clever by giving a warning to lawyers and others on his team. (Shh! Hide your devices! Delete your files!)
It’s the lawyer shout-out version of “Russia, if you can find those missing emails, you will be mightily rewarded!” Jesus, what a moron.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Frankensteinbeck: she had a blog– excuse me, an AWARD WINNING BLOG!, as she used to tweet-shout at anyone who dared to suggest she was a clueless member of the Lucky Sperm Club. In 2012 she loudly and proudly announced that her services were available to any candidate who wanted her help to “kick Obama’s ass”. She remained an official employee of whatever Mummy’s beer company is called (that’s speculation), and not even Rick Santorum or Michelle Bachmann called to ask what she charged for ass-kicking consultation.
RedDirtGirl
@Kay: If you check out Stormy’s Twitter feed you’ll see that she phenomenal at handing the asses back to the people that come at her. It is delightful. The only problem is that most of them delete the initial tweet, so you only get her response. But still worth it!
OzarkHillbilly
@jeffreyw: Mama OHB’s birthday, she requested baby back ribs. rubbed ’em down last night.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@NeenerNeener:
I disliked it because it is using that “we’re going to give you snippet flashbacks of the backstory while placing you in the midst of confusing as shit action” method. I’m linear as hell, and find it difficult to maintain focus and attention.
Jeffro
@jeffreyw: @SFAW: @rikyrah:
Mine won’t be as good as jeffreyw’s but I’ve got an Italian “pork shoulder braciola” going in the slow cooker…making some sort of spinach-ricotta-polenta side dish later to go with it…
The only other real cooking I’m doing later this week is chicken & dumplings (Wed) and maybe a salmon & asparagus pasta (Thurs). My kids of course would prefer chicken patties and mac & cheese, the little heathens…
OzarkHillbilly
@Frankensteinbeck: She always was, and remians, nothing more than John McCains daughter.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Kay:
Who knew that the hero America needed would be a porn star?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Trumpian Gothic.
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Every teenage boy.
jeffreyw
@WaterGirl:
Kroger has it labeled as “choice boneless chuck”, it was on sale for $2.99/lb. This one weighed in at 5.2 lbs.
Mandalay
@MomSense:
I think it far more likely that she did vote for McCain, but is lying now because it is convenient.
She makes Donald Trump look like an amateur when it comes to saying and doing whatever is convenient at the time. She smeared everyone who was against the Iraq War. She said we should thank God that Obama wasn’t in charge after 9/11. Wallace is the lowest form of life. She believes in absolutely nothing except that which she calculates will advance her career.
I have more respect for Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity than I do for Nicole Wallace. At least they actually believe the shit they spew.
No Drought No More
“lippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!”.
No, that will always be J.Edgar. Still, it’s tough to see Comey as anything but #2 worst, if only by virtue of his decision making during the 2016 campaign.
But what really, really cheers me up to no end is Trump thinking in historical terms. Because Trump thinks of no one but himself. It means that during this surreal calm before the storm that will drive him from power, this insecure, pathetically small minded man- this traitor to his country- is being tortured by the certain knowledge his name will join that of Benedict Arnold in the collective memory of all humanity. It makes this surreal wait all the more endurable, if not outright more pleasurable.
Chip Daniels
@Kay:
As a white man who was once a conservative, I can testify that much or most of conservatism is the demand for unearned authority for white men.
In the world I grew up in, it was just assumed to be a naturally occurring fact that the center of power and authority would always be a white male, even if, like Star Trek, we were magnanimous enough to accept everyone else in positions of subordinates.
The freakout after Obama’s win was the shriek of white men sensing the loss of unearned authority.
jeffreyw
@OzarkHillbilly: Mmm… ribs!
Gelfling 545
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini: Then he’s still done his best for his client. All one can expect.
NeenerNeener
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: A legitimate complaint. I’m trying to learn to roll with it because it seems to be a fad right now. The recent series on Andrew Cunanan and J. P. Getty III are full of flashbacks.
jeffreyw
@rikyrah:
You betcha!
grandpa john
@bemused: Just like everything else with these assholes they never read the whole message respect is not an endowed right, It has to be earned
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: And they say karma isn’t real.
Nicole
@grandpa john:
Makes me think about parents who believe physical discipline is a necessity because it teaches a child “respect.” No. It just teaches them that hitting someone smaller they they are is a way to get them to do what they want.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mandalay:
Not for a second do I believe that. They just know where the money is and who the suckers are.
Kay
@Chip Daniels:
I admit I sort of play to it in my practice. It’s easier and they are my clients and I value loyalty to them as clients above my “right” to challenge them. I realized with the election of Trump that I have a whole set of behaviors that are designed to accommodate white conservative men. This is just my opinion but I think “femaleness” helps- they aren’t threatened by me right off the bat because I’m not in the set of people they admire or look up to. It’s a weird relationship, somewhat dishonest on my part, but these aren’t personal relationships so I tell myself that. This sounds horrible and patronizing but it’s a variant of the way I deal with people I think are unstable- I encounter a lot of unstable people. It’s a lesser version of that. In my head I think of it as “talking them down”.
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: Do you cook it as one big hunk?
OzarkHillbilly
@jeffreyw: Slow cooked of course.
Gelfling 545
@FlipYrWhig: The obly “respect” they will accept is saying that they are conpletely & unequivocally right in EVERY DETAIL. Since they’re not, the effort is useless.
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: For those of us who haven’t made our own, what brand do you buy if you don’t have homemade?
Gelfling 545
@Kay: The great thing to me is that they’re beating Trump on his home field. Twitter and snark.
Brachiator
@germy:
This is very cool. I didn’t know anything about her, but wish her great sucess.
Eons ago, in the days of my yoot, I dated a young woman who was an auto mechanic. Early on, I told her that since I didn’t know jack shit about automobiles, I never had to play ego games pitting my knowledge about cars against hers. And also, that I would never ask her to repair my car.
Gelfling 545
@rikyrah: They really have no choice. An educated public is a mortal danger to them!
NotMax
@jeffreyw
No cauliflower?
Zinsky
Here is a picture of the hideous, corpulent Huckabee family to remind everyone of what bad genetic stock this she-hag came from:
https://crooksandliars.com/2007/12/16/huckabee-squashed-charges-against-his-son-for-stoning-hanging-dog
Oh yes, the accompanying story is about how the degenerate Huckabee boys tortured and killed a stray dog. Lovely family. All I can say is that we should all be thankful that Mike Huckabee never became President! His rotund family would have bankrupted the U.S. Treasury just feeding their fat asses!
clay
@Gelfling 545: Twitter, yes. But snark isn’t something that Trump does. He isn’t clever enough for it, and his sense of humor seems pretty limited.
Mandalay
@OzarkHillbilly: Fair enough. I didn’t make it clear that I meant they believe the stuff they say about liberals and progressive values. In Ingraham’s case she was secretly recording and outing gay students while she was a student. You don’t do sick shit like that on a whim. And Hannity has shown time and again he is fully entitled to wear a white hood on his show.
But you have a point that they may still actually believe Trump is a complete idiot. Ann Coulter recently said as much.
Gelfling 545
@clay: Well, HE thinks he’s being snarky. Incorrectly but, still.
Villago Delenda Est
@NeenerNeener: The twunts are complaining about science when discussing Lost in Space? Oh, the ironing. It is delicious.
As you noted, what they’re REALLY upset about is that the cast has various hues of skin and various sets of genitals not where they’re supposed to be, dammit!
Fuck these troggs with Robbie the Robot’s laser anal probe.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mandalay: Ingraham’s death needs to be long, and painful.
jc
“Skunks” is exactly the right description for Trump & Co.
What’s true is what Trump says is true. That’s what his supporters want in a president. They don’t want a leader who respects evidence or facts or the law. Trump voters are all as damaged as he is.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mandalay: I try not to say they are stupid, they have way too much money belying otherwise, just that they say stupid things (in service to their bottom line). Give them credit where credit is due, who knew you could monetize bullshit into a multi-millionaire career? You are dead on about their hatred for us, tho I think hatred is a little weak as a descriptor.
SFAW
@Gelfling 545:
Shitgibbon doesn’t do “snark.” All he does is spew insults and demeaning shit, crap that a fourth grader would be embarrassed to say.
jeffreyw
@WaterGirl:
Yes. I’m sure the Chicago purists will insist that it has to be sliced to be a proper Italian beef but I do it shredded (pulled) for service. It has to be very thoroughly cooked for that, of course.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: Not just respected, they demand love, no matter what shitty stuff they pull themselves.
Skepticat
@Elizabelle: OT.
I’m not certain that’s off topic. It could just as well have read, “Now that I’ve been elected president …”
Another Scott
@SFAW: They needed enough people to fill the chairs around the table. Even then, most of the chairs around the wall are empty…
Cheers,
Scott.
Mnemosyne
@Chip Daniels:
And it was also then when I realized how many of my fellow white women preferred basking in the reflection of that unearned authority to going out and earning authority for themselves.
jeffreyw
@WaterGirl:
Pagliacci makes a good product in either hot or mild. There are other good brands but I haven’t tried all that many.
Tazj
@Betty Cracker: That was a ridiculous column by David Brooks, but it’s very much in line with what passes for wisdom among our media. As Oliver Willis has said, everything must be viewed as a cautionary tale for liberals. Was Brooks paying attention at all after Sandy Hook? Every speech given by a politician regarding gun control was prefaced by a statement supporting the second amendment and touting common sense gun laws supported by an overwhelming majority of the population including gun owners. Meanwhile, the Sandy Hook parents were terrorized by lunatics but persevered with grace.
I listened to an interview with Anthony Gittens, who was a student leader of a takeover of Howard University in the 60’s. They asked him if he had any advice for the Parkland students. He said that it was necessary to make people feel uncomfortable, that was the only way change happened. He said the university administration would come to the table hoping to pacify them and hoping that they would just go away. It seems as if people who actually changed things don’t agree with David Brooks.
@rikyrah: Dr. Smith was creepy and scared me on reruns as a child.
Brachiator
@NeenerNeener:
WTF is wrong with these people? The original Lost in Space was a laughably bad SF fantasy show partially redeemed by its campy elements. There was not even a pretense at any scientific accuracy.
Too PC? Jonathan Harris’ Dr Smith was the original Space Queen. Do the childhood memories of these detractors acknowledge the original show’s obvious queer politics?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I didn’t vote for the punk, you god damn boot licker Kellyanne.
jeffreyw
@NotMax:
Nope, I added extra serranos and some sport peppers to take their place.
Elizabelle
@Skepticat: Yeah. Exactly. That might be the cartoon The New Yorker did not run with.
This 58 weasels has meme possibilities.
PaulWartenberg
Saturday Night Live opened well with a brilliant Mueller-Cohen rehash of “Meet the Parents” but it was the Lobster Diner Les MIz performance that was epic.
Quinerly
@Mandalay: Nicole Wallace stated shortly after the 2008 election she had not voted for the McCain/Palin ticket. Pretty sure it was in her post election book, also.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
Ah, but Dr. Smith was the cowardly villain, just like they know all them gayz are.
Feebog
@Kay:
Your approach sounds effective and stealthy. I woul bet most of these guys don’t even realize they are being manipulated.
StringOnAStick
Here’s my book report from the Colorado democratic state assembly yesterday, also posted upstairs.
I was a volunteer at the Democratic state assembly yesterday and one of the state house candidates is a child of Indian immigrants and she was very impressive. As was the guy who is a child or Eritrean immigrants and now an attorney and civil rights mover and shaker at the state level; I’m hoping he unseats the odious Mike Coffman for Congress; he made me think of Obama, he was that good!
Being a volunteer was interesting; since we now have 2 half grown kittens I figured I was well prepared to herd Democratic cats. Any time you put 4,000 people in an area and try to organize people flow direction, etc it can be chaotic but I think in general it went well. I had many more people be thankful and kind than the 2 or 3 who were bitchy and upset about things and complained about it being disorganized. So, protip: don’t be mean to the volunteers, they’re just trying to help and recognize that running an event with so many people having to get registered, hear candidates speak, and then go get their ballots and then find the box to drop it in takes a bit of time with 4,000 people, so chill! If things don’t run fast enough for your satisfaction (we were always ahead of schedule), then maybe let someone else be a delegate next time!
Colorado has some great D candidates and I was pleased to see in my morning email that all the overt Fernie Fro aligned candidates were dead last in the voting. “Overt” as in bringing up super delegates and spouting the “thumbs on the scale/BS wuz ROBBED!” argument. The guy who really made that argument was both booed for it and got a little over 1% of the vote. In order to get on the primary ballot you have to get 30% of the assembly votes or else try to qualify via petitions. I think Cary Kennedy is the strongest candidate for Governor over Congressman Jared Polis. I love Polis at the federal level, but making one of your campaign slogans “Take that Mike Pence!” because Polis is out, married with 2 kids and very, very “Boulder”, I just think he can only win Boulder and Denver but will get slaughtered in the conservative rural areas. Considering that every R running for this office is freaking insane, we can’t afford to lose this race.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
Maybe that’s how some of the more dim-witted hetero adolescents read it, but no. Harris was originally a more traditional villain, but soon found a way to inject camp. And even to me, who didn’t think deeply about this show, it was clear that Dr Smith believed that he was the hero of the Robinson expedition. This is what made his hammy, campy excess fun. And no matter what stunts he pulled, he always got away with it. Smith was never punished for his queerness, which was revolutionary in a way.
ETA. Guy Williams, who was originally supposed to be the heroic focus of the show, became bitter and resentful that Smith’s character became the center of the show. After a while, he just phoned in his performance and collected his paycheck. He later retired to Argentina, where he was a beloved figure because of his earlier career as star of Disney’s “Zorro.”
zhena gogolia
@Kay:
Yes, this is what I love about that story.
Ruckus
@debbie:
Or even the other way around. The answer is twofold. First he is no at all curious about any issue whatsoever that does not involve him fucking someone. Second, that’s like asking why he’s not doing 4th derivative calculus in his head. He isn’t capable, not in any way shape or form. He is so incapable of doing any higher order thought process that all he knows how to order to eat is McDs. It isn’t because he’s germ adverse, it’s the limit of his intelligence and imagination.
lumpkin
@Schlemazel:
I have slept on a Mypillow. It sucks. No idea why anyone would spend good money on them.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Mnemosyne:
I would love to know why the writing, production and directing team on the original series went from having him be a fairly competent villainous anti-hero with several layers to a turning him into a goddamned cartoon and centering the show around the kid.
They did a fair job of getting back to that original characterization with the movie reboot casting of Gary Oldman. Still had too much kid. This series could suffer from focusing too much in the kid as well.
Kathleen
@germy: My brother played drums in a band in which the lead guitarist had to quit because of deafness in one ear and arthritis in his hands. Musicians face many occupational hazards (as do manicurists/pedicurists and hair stylists).
Kathleen
@MomSense: Ooh, I got dyslexic for a minute and thought you typed “GRABitass”
lgerard
@Kay:
I’m looking forward to the day Stormy Daniels receives the Medal of Freedom from a grateful nation
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Brachiator:
For the most part, the first year of the series was good – Smith was an untrustworthy asshole traitor.
J R in WV
@Amir Khalid:
I made a lot of money (1970 terms, 15 or 20 bucks a fight) betting on Ali while in the Navy. All the lifers hated him, I loved his attitude and his mad skillz. If I had had the money and better connections with the lifers I could have retired, I could have bet 50 times on every fight, all of them hated him, just like Repugs and Obama, exactly so!
Frankensteinbeck
@Chip Daniels:
An enormously powerful force, and the reason why so many people who never seemed racist when completely batshit when Obama was elected. Clint Eastwood was renowned for being magnanimous to minorities in Hollywood. Then a black man became his boss, and he flipped his wig.
@Ruckus:
I suspect that is actually the result of restaurants where they know who they’re serving doing disgusting things to his food. He has been hated, especially in his hometown, for a long time.
Ruckus
@Kay:
No it’s not. But we need to laugh a little, even if it is nervous laughter, otherwise all of this drumpf shit would completely take your breath away. No it’s not funny in the least. It’s actually terrifying in how stupid it is, in how stupid he is and he has the keys. It’s like buying your 90 yr old Alzheimers addled dad a 200mph Ferrari and sending him out in it with instructions to see how fast it will go. It can’t end well, and the potential to hurt a lot of people is huge.
It’s fucking terrifying, it’s why we can’t really talk about anything else.
Ksmiami
@rikyrah: convo with my mom- I just can’t be friends with any Republicans or ppl who voted for Trump,” mom- “but I can’t just end Long friendships with ppl..” Me: “It’s just a values thing: why would you want to be friends with ppl who want to hurt others?” Mom… long pause…”I see your point.”
Brachiator
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Because it made the show more fun. Viewers didn’t want layers, they wanted adventure.
Also, Jonathan Harris, Billy Mumy and the robot had more charisma than the rest of the cast.
In some ways, campy Lost in Space was a precursor to Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, not to any conventional science fiction.
PaulWartenberg
Look, I wanna go to Prague but I can’t afford it.
But I wanna leave it up to the voters: should I start a fundraiser to pay for the trip? I promise I will blog about the experiences.
I have a survey up if anyone wants to vote on the matter, please and thank you.
Kathleen
@jeffreyw: What would you like me to bring for dessert?
Kathleen
@SFAW: Speaking of hunk o’ burning love, HBO has an excellent 2 part documentary about Elvis. I saw Part 1 last night. I never was a fan of his when I was a kid but I’ve grown to appreciate his talent. I missed Part 2 (not sure if there are more parts).
Ruckus
@germy:
I have a phone by the same company but it at least didn’t do that when I got it. If you go into settings you can change almost all the annoying shit these things do. You will also need to remove or at least disable a number of apps. The trick of course is to find out what setting/app is causing you to want to run over the phone with your car. It takes a while. Finding the app may be easier as you can google them and find out what they do. And if you disable an app and it’s necessary, you can enable it again. Sometimes it helps to look at battery usage and see what is consuming the most power. It isn’t phone calls, that’s likely way down the list unless you talk on it 24/7.
Wild Cat
@Villago Delenda Est: Never forgive the degenerates at the NYT for putting “The Obama Diaries” in the nonfiction section. Adam Bellow is her new racist editor.
J R in WV
@germy:
If he doesn’t, he may spend all the months between Monday and a final resolution of his case AND all the other cases connected to his case in jail for criminal contempt. He should have been there Friday, but spent the day lolling in his hotel’s sidewalk cafe, smoking ceegars with his buddies, which lit the judge on fire when noticed. Now there’s a court order!
Kay
Susan Hennessey
Verified account
Maybe we could stop calling everyone heroes? How about that. I mean, she seems like a very good person but “hero” is probably not a good fit. What about “kind” or “generous” or “good at being married to Comey?”
They’re not especially heroic because they’re married to powerful/rich/famous people right? It’s not like there’s a LOWER bar for those people.
Brachiator
A couple of tidbits from the latest presidential approval poll.
Of course, Trump’s dopes will spin this all as positive.
Link
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/economy-helps-trump-approval-personality-women-poll/story?id=54445035
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: I’m from Chicago and I prefer my italian beef shredded. Lots of the sliced stuff doesn’t look like real meat – it looks like the pressed meat stuff. Gross.
Even Portillo’s – which opened a store here about a year ago – seems like it’s pressed sliced meat. It doesn’t hold a candle to the italian beef I used to buy from Carm’s.
bemused
@Zinsky:
I don’t think anyone seeing the Huckbee family photo could ever forget it. When you look past the ridiculous matching clothing and obesity, what got me was their faces. The whole family looked like they were missing quite a few marbles.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
Tribalism in action from my fellow white people. Sure, he’s a fucking moron, but he’s our fucking moron!
Baud
@Mnemosyne: I wonder what’s driving it up over the last three months though. Just the economy?
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: Thank you! I ordered the one you suggested, had fun reading about the rest. and then ordered one of the ones in the article that just had peppers, celery and olives. I often pick around the carrots, so that seemed like it might be a good bet.
Ruckus
@bemused:
No one can demand respect.
Respect is earned. Always. That’s why conservatives never get any, even from each other, they never earn it. They think “earning” money should get them respect but money isn’t respect, it’s only a measure of how much crap you can purchase. And you can’t purchase respect, it isn’t a thing made in a plant somewhere, it’s a human trait that you have to earn.
I’ve met a few people in my decades that I respect extremely. I never would have expected to go there before I knew them. I’ve met people in many walks of life that would earn anyone’s respect because they are real people. Yes they all have flaws, we all do, but they transcend those flaws, they work on those flaws, they work around those flaws, they don’t let those flaws rule them. You can respect them because they recognize themselves and don’t put themselves ahead or above every one else. They have humanity, they don’t let it get beat out of them, especially for a few bucks. They earn your respect. Conservatives do none of that. They don’t respect each other and they don’t respect you but they expect you to respect them, because they have no understanding of compassion, of being real. To conservatives you need to respect them because they are white or rich or bigots. They expect respect, not for all the reasons you do respect someone but for all the reasons that you don’t.
Zinsky
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I’m sure that the hideously garish Kellyanne Conway said the same thing about the Obama presidency. NOT!
Ruckus
@Chyron HR:
I’m 68, have owned two businesses for a total of 24 yrs and have used the services of a lawyer a few times. Not once have I needed one, let alone many, to defend me for anything. It hasn’t been that difficult to be in that position. Why is it that drumpf has so many? Could it possibly be that he is a fucking asshole crook? Just asking for a friend.
Schlemazel
@WaterGirl:
Been to a Portillo’s once & that was more than enough.
jeffreyw
@Kathleen:
Just bring your own sweet self, we made eclairs.
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: Oh my god. I want those now. Maybe all of them.
edit: I see that there are 11 of them. In the spirit of generosity, you guys may split one of them.
Ruckus
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Come on, that’s too easy. Anyone paying attention is who. This is after all America.
WaterGirl
@Schlemazel: I’m thinking that Portillo’s is putting the mom & pop italian beef places out of business, which is a travesty. The last Carm’s I am aware of closed. So sad.
Ruckus
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini:
He is trolling the one person he can not bring into this. He is trolling drumpf, for him to admit that he screwed Stormy and that he paid her off. drumpf’s lawyers won’t let him say it in court but it’s real possible he will tweet it out late one night.
He’s trolling drumpf. Not another soul on the planet.
Matt McIrvin
@germy: Meniere’s disease is surgically treatable, at least for some people–one of the most famous sufferers was Alan Shepard, the first American in space. He was grounded for it for a while and missed out on the Gemini program, but after surgery he commanded a mission to the Moon (and hit a golf ball there).
Schlemazel
@WaterGirl:
They just opened one here on the tundra & I have been warning people they don’t do good Italian beef. But McDonalds is not in business because they make excellent burgers. This is the direction of the world
bemused
@Ruckus:
All true.
No, they don’t respect each other either which is why watching them throw each other under the bus has the potential to be epic.
Mandalay
@Kay:
Amen! Way, way overused.
And while we’re about it can can we stop calling everyone geniuses at the drop of a hat?
A quick search of Google News finds articles describing all of the following as geniuses: Trump, Bezos, MLK, Delacroix, Charles Murray, Stephen Sondheim and the Founding Fathers.
But do any of that lot really qualify as a genius? Well according to the article “In search of genius” a genius is not necessarily someone who is really smart, but rather “Part of genius is having a type of vision that then spurs others to do great things”.
By that measure MLK can certainly be called a genius, and arguably the Founding Fathers (if you can tag a group as a genius). The rest?…not so much.
WaterGirl
@Schlemazel: I think the mom & pop vs. Walmart type businesses is an ebb and flow thing. But sadly, the mom & pops that are put out of business are not the same mom & pops who later get back into business.
Just like in IT, the pendulum moves between centralization and more localized support, and then back again.
Ruckus
@Frankensteinbeck:
Quite possibly true.
It is possible that when he was younger he might have known how much of an asshole he is, I’m sure he was informed about it at least occasionally, and so he expected people to do stuff to his food. But he’s president now! He bought that respect!
Ruckus
@Kay:
There’s a lower bar that conservatives are looking for, other than the one buried that they are trying to crawl under now? How do they rate a bar so low that the bottom can’t be found?
rikyrah
@StringOnAStick:
Thanks for telling us
Ruckus
@bemused:
They ate them.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay: The differance was 911 and random missile strikes have gone on now for almost three decades now so only the most hopelessly stupidest of wingnuts think they settle anything. And there is Trump being to cozy with the Russians, I can’t imagine a Defense Con being happy about that at all.
Mandalay
@PaulWartenberg:
If you are making any decision in your life based on the result of an internet poll you should not be allowed anywhere near sharp objects.
bemused
@Ruckus:
Lol.
zhena gogolia
@PaulWartenberg:
The lobster diner sketch was funny! And De Niro was great as Mueller.
Citizen Alan
@Nicole:
Unfortunately, that’s pretty much what the word respect means to conservatives.
Tenar Arha
@MomSense: Yuup. That’s the reason I’ve stopped watching the cable & network news, & I simply cannot put on NPR in my car. I turn into *shakes fist, yells at radio*
ETA fun fact when you stop watching most of these programs you end up losing the ability to tolerate them entirely.
Tehanu
@cope:
In the Obama pic, they’re seriously concentrating on the actual action. In the Dump pic, the ones who ARE looking in the same direction are looking at Dump.
@The Moar You Know:
I wish I could say you’re wrong, but you’re only right.
@Kay:
Hear, hear!
J R in WV
On Sirius/XM radio in the car there’s a politics channel, POTUS, which they often say means Politic of the US. From 3-6 pm there’s a talk show with Julie Mason interviewing, well, chatting with really, other reporters covering capitol hill, the white house, foreign affairs, etc. A wide variety of reporters, introduced with their subject matter and who they’re working for.
It’s pretty good, Julie is very dynamic, has been in the news biz for a long time, has a good sense of humor. The show after is called Steele and Unger, one is supposedly a liberal, the other conservative. They have lost their way over the past 18 months. Neither of them is liberal at all, I can’t even tell which one is supposed to be in theory. Neither is very Trumpian thank dog.
I do listen to WV Public Radio, which has many news shows NOT All Things Considered, which I don’t hate as much as some do. It’s a source for local news
bluefish
@Kay: Perfectly stated and hell yeah!
NorthLeft12
Deep down I cannot respect the authority of Deadbeat Donald unless he is sitting on his golden throne. That cheap, second hand, imitation naugahyde swivel chair just does not do it for me. I could not carry out a nuclear strike from a man like him planted in that abomination. It screams fake and LOSER.
NorthLeft12
@Tenar Arha:When NPR, among others, decided to stop calling torture performed by the US, torture. I stopped listening to anything from that outlet. That was a blatant sell out to the Repubs….for all the good it did them.
Apparently it got easier for them after that from what I have read in general comments on the internet.
momus
A year into his administration and they still have to set out nameplates for him, so he knows who is who.
Juju
I know I’m late to this thread, and someone may have pointed this out, and very few will read this comment, but I think black and white is an odd choice for a picture like this. The only reason I can think of choosing black and white for this picture is that it obscures who is there. I had to enlarge to see that Pence was there. It wasn’t immediately apparent to me that he was the person sitting next to Trump. It also makes it a bit difficult to tell who else is present.
J R in WV
Another reason may be to give it an historical feel, like the B&W photos of Kennedy and Johnson… but NOT Nixon, nonono not!
It isn’t a good photo, the angle isn’t good (which also make it hard to ID attendees) and the resolution isn’t very good. White House Photog is not Mr.Souza, is it now? I think maybe just an intern level person with a point and shoot. I wouldn’t put my name on it. Not even my nym.
I read your comment, I’m known for makeing the last 4 comments on a dead thread, in order to register my opi
Juju
@J R in WV: I’m pretty sure it’s a digital image and black and white was a deliberate choice. I agree. It’s a horrendously bad picture. If you were a decent photographer would you want to have anything to do with the Trump administration?
What’s opi?
BretH
@The Moar You Know: this, a hundred million times.
PaulWartenberg
@Mandalay:
I’m going to set up a poll to see if it’s okay to run around with scissors next!
Tenar Arha
@NorthLeft12: I listen to their CodeSwitch podcasts, & still donate. But I cannot risk catching Cokie Roberts in the wild anymore ;)
ETA1/2 they’re generally the only not-RWNJ station available in some places, so I do donate for that & for the podcasts.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Juju:
Opi = opinion.
trnc
@J R in WV:
My problem isn’t with the quality of this photo, per se. My problem here is that it obviously can’t represent what she claims it does, which means there probably is no photo of DT, Mattis, etc in the Sit Room. If there was, she probably would have said, “Oops, wrong pic” and posted the correct one.
So now the question is, did Souza run out of film, or is it possible there was no SitRoom meeting about the Syria strike?